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In all reality button ribs are not technically even ribs as they are cut from the sides of a hog’s spine behind the last rib. They are just little thin strips of meat and piece of backbone. This is the pieces of pork that Applebee’s calls riblets. Riblets are a completely different cut of pork that actually contains rib bone.

Sometimes you will find button ribs mislabled as riblets at the supermarket.

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Rib Tips vs. Riblets – What is the Difference?

Sometimes people refer to rib tips are riblets, or vice versa, but they are two different cuts of pork. Riblets are cut from a full rack of pork spare ribs. The spare ribs are cut in half to straighten them out. Riblets are the short, flat ribs that are left after trimming away the curved portion.

Rib tips are attached to the lower end of the spare ribs.They are what is trimmed off when preparing St. Louis-style ribs. They don’t actually have any bone in them, but rather thick cartilage. These tips used to be tossed away, but now they are becoming popular because of their great flavor.

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What are Rib Tips & Where do they Come from?

Rib tips are attached to the lower end of pork spare ribs. They are short, meaty pieces of rib that don’t actually contain any rib bone, but instead just dense cartilage. Ribs tips are cut away during the process of preparing St. Louis-style ribs.

Some butchers consider them to be scrap, but they can be grilled, smoked, and slathered with barbecue sauce.

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Country-style ribs are a cut of pork from the blade end of the loin nearest to the pork shoulder. These ribs do not contain any rib bones, they actually contain part of the shoulder blade.

Country-style ribs are the meatiest of all ribs, and are not really made to be picked up, they are more of a knife and fork sort of rib. These ribs are commonly made either on the grill or often times in a slow cooker. They are a really good cut of pork that tastes great with either a dry rub, or covered with barbecue sauce.